With advances in therapy, childhood cancer has become a chronic disease which need not prevent a child from living a normal or near-normal life much of the time. The purpose of the proposed project is to develop and evaluate a model for utilizing two existing community resources, the school and the county health department, to facilitate the child's rehabilitation. Community health nurses educated in pediatric cancer care can alleviate many of the burdens on children and families living at a distance from the treatment center. School, a major force in normal child development, is as important in children's rehabilitation as employment is for the adult cancer patient. A Pediatric Cancer Control Team (PCCT) has been formed consisting of two pediatric oncology nurse clinicians, two clinical psychologists, a special education teacher, and support personnel. The objectives are, first, to educate local community health nurses and school personnel about pediatric cancer, cancer therapy, prognosis, and rehabilitation; second, to maintain liaison with the local agencies to coordinate medical care and to facilitate academic progress for each patient; and third, to evaluate the effectiveness of the program by means of (a) questionnaires to assess local community personnel's knowledge about and attitudes toward cancer both before and after intervention; (b) weekly patient contact logs to provide information about the community nurse's activities; (c) school records of the child's attendance and academic progress; and (d) parent questionnaires and interviews to assess satisfaction with the intervention. To date, 65 children are involved in the study. Results from the 01 year indicate no significant differences in academic achievement or school attendance between children in the Intervention and Comparison groups despite more medical problems in the former group. Involvement of a community health nurse was associated with a decrease in Cancer Center inpatient days and medical costs, but no difference in quality of care for children in the Intervention group.